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Reviews For: Pryme Radio Products AL-800 Telescoping HT Antenna

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Pryme Radio Products AL-800 Telescoping HT Antenna
Reviews: 22MSRP: 34.95
Description:
Telescoping 2M/440 High Gain HT Antenna... 3.2 dB gain 2M / 5.6 dB gain 440 MHz. 50 Ohm impedance and BNC connector.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.pryme.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00224.7
KN0JI Rating: 2017-08-14
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've purchased seven of the AL-800 antennas over the years, and have used them mostly on Baofeng, BTech, and other Chinese HTs. They perform wonderfully on both 2 meters and 70 cm, but they fall apart so easily and quickly.

On three of them the tops eventually (several weeks) popped off while pulling the antenna out. On two of them, a slight bend caused the bottom-most section to kink, which prevented my re-inserting the sections completely into the base, eventually resulting in its breaking off completely. Never buying another.
N5OFQ Rating: 2016-08-19
The best HT radiator Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have various Diamond/Comet/Smiley/AEA Hotrod/Nagoya antennas but nothing I've found will out-radiate this antenna. My analyzer shows it 1.0 VSWR right in the middle of the 2m band. It's a bit large and cumbersome when extended but there is no substitute for a full size antenna when maximum gain HT is necessary.
WA6OZX Rating: 2015-07-23
Great, but question on longevity Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am very pleased with the RF performance of the AL-800, but have one caveat

My first AL-800 pulled apart at the bottom slide and two pieces of copper fell out.
They were used to provide conductivity between the upper and lower portions of
the antenna and also to hold the two sections together.

I sent the antenna back to Pryme and they replaced it. A year later the replacement pulled apart for similar reasons. Pryme sent me another AL-800 even though it was out of the one year warranty period. They do stand behind their product and have excellent tech support.

If you use the AL-800 for emergency communications, be sure to have a spare antenna in your go-kit.
IT9EWA Rating: 2014-11-09
best ht/telescopic antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
hi, i have proexel srh516, and other ht antenna so rat tail, when on the mountain and with no problem durng my trip, i pick up the prymeal 800 and change all over, very clearly audio and i can engage the repeaters so to many km form me and when i can't engaged they with other ht antenna i mount it and they came on my ht without problem, and if the play is very very hard i get up the elk antenna and no problem so.....the pryme antenna is very very god for perfomance and so for the building quality and material and so the customer service! i council it! bye!'73
N0RDD Rating: 2013-09-05
Great!, but heed my warning. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had this antenna for a few weeks now. I've tested it using 2 identical Yaesu FT-60R HTs. With one radio having the AL-800 and the other having the stock Yaesu rubber ducky, the RX signal strength was easily 3X as good as the rubber ducky. I got the help of some other ham to help me compare them with a simplex test. At 6 miles in semi-rural terrain, the rubber ducky could not receive or TX well enough to hear or be heard. But the AL-800 had a very clear signal both ways. This antenna does exactly what Pryme claims it will do and I'm VERY happy with it!

Now a warning: Most of the antennas you will find when you look for one of these are FAKES! They are cheap replicas from china. There's no way to spot the difference until you have it in your hands. I found the fakes selling for $13.50 to about $20.00. Do not buy these or you will be sorry! The real Pryme AL-800 antennas sell for about $35-$38. If you're not paying that much, you're buying a cheap chinese copy which will not perform at all like the real one, and will probably not last long. You have been warned. Stop buying cheap chinese garbage products.
KJ6AIW Rating: 2009-12-12
GREAT antenna, pretty big tho. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Swr is fantastic on both 2m and 440. The little rubber whip that comes with it is worthless. They main telescopic whip however works exceptionally well. Well worth the money, and turns your ht into a decent sounding far reaching station.
KF4FRK Rating: 2008-10-12
Best HT Antenna Period Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Al-800 is my favorite HT antenna. The only time that I could see using something else would be if you were near the repeater or needed something with flexibility (although the rat tail does provide this). If you are in a fringe area or need to kick down the power level to preserve battery power, this antenna is for you.
Too bad this isn't available with an SMA connector, but that would probably make for an unstable mounting to the radio.
Mine is ancient, it is actually an ANLI AL-800.
Out of my cold, dead hands.....
LOSTTOY Rating: 2008-01-21
Best HT antenna but for the BNC connector Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna right after I bought my VX7R. Over the last few weeks I got tired of the size and weight of the antenna so I tried to replace it with the Diamond SRH77CA Dual Band (2 m /70 CM) HT Antenna.

Let me give me your a brief overview of how the AL-800 performed. With the AL-800 on the VX7R, I could hit a repeater in Fremont,CA from San Francisco (at least 30 miles) with just 1 watt on the 2 meter band. My signal could be copied clearly. On the freeway from Mountain View CA to SFO, I could hear lots of PDs clearly. Even is SFO, I could hear SJPD clearly. Ofcourse, it helps that I live near Twin Peaks.

Cut to the Diamond SRH77CA that has a 4.4(SMA)/4.9(BNC) rating on eham. I get lots of noise when I am at home and try tuning to the Fremont repeater. On the freeway, I hear nothing but noise.

I know the Diamond is not as long as the AL-800 but the AL-800 easily creams the competition. I really wish they made a SMA version that would natively fit my VX7R. The whole SMA to BNC thing makes me very uncomfortable especially when someone at the local HRO store told me that the SMA connector on their VX7R broke due to the AL-800. For now, I am ordering KC2BHO's SMA to BNC connector and see if that is better than the Yaesu branded one.

And the Diamond is going back to the local HRO store.
KC9GWK Rating: 2007-11-27
Made my first sat contact with this Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Folks,
I bought this antenna after reading the reviews of others. It was under $30 at the local ham store (AES). I already bought the SMA-BNC adaptor listed in an ealier review. Together this antenna fits great on my Yaesu FT60. I followed the directions of others and using this antenna and my HT I made my first satellite contact on the AO-27 bird. That was fun! I will also now be using this antenna for local repeaters when needed.
73 to you all.
Ed
WA4SCA Rating: 2007-09-18
Works great in fringe reception area Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I live very near a system of VHF and UHF repeaters, but due to the location of some ridges, I have always gotten spotty reports getting in with a 5 watt HT, even though my reception is excellent. After trying an after market antenna, and even configuring my base station as a TX repeater, I finally tried an AL-800. Problem solved! In fact, now the UHF repeaters are also useful, with a little careful location of the rig.

My HT is 5" tall, and the retracted length of the antenna is 10". It always gets a smile when I put the unit on the table, and then extend the antenna to its full 34" length.

One slight downside to the long length is that it puts some strain on the BNC junction as you wave it around. In my case, there is some very slight give in the connection. Nothing serious, but I was concerned about wear over time. I found an o-ring at the local hardware which was the correct diameter to fit over the BNC jack and provide a bumper between the bottom of the antenna connector and the HT case. It was too thick initially to allow the antenna connector to twist lock, but I was able to convert the o-ring to an o-washer with an emery board.